1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus, such as a VTR, having a tape loading mechanism for drawing a tape out of a cassette and winding it around a head, such as a rotating drum head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been available a so-called cassette-slide type VTR, in which the tape cassette (on which the VTR is loaded) is brought close to the rotating drum to thereby cause a part of the rotating drum to be accommodated in an opening portion of the cassette, thereby achieving a reduction in the depth dimension of the apparatus as a whole.
First, a VTR of this type and, in particular, the tape loading mechanism thereof, will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 through 12. FIG. 10 is a plan view of the VTR in the unloaded state; FIG. 11 is a plan view of the VTR in the state in which loading has been completed; and FIG. 12 is a schematic plan view illustrating the tape path in the loading-completed state.
In FIG. 10, a tape cassette 103 is mounted on a slide chassis 102, which is moved in the direction indicated by an arrow a' with respect to a main chassis 101, and then the slide chassis 102 is moved in the direction of an arrow a to be brought close to a rotating drum 105 on the main chassis 101. As the slide chassis 102 is thus moved in the direction of the arrow a, a first link 107, which is rotatably supported by a link axle 106 provided on the main chassis 101, is rotated in the direction of an arrow b since the first link 107 is then pushed by a driving pin 109, which is provided on the slide chassis 102 and engaged with an elongated hole 108 formed in this first link 107.
As a result, a second link 111 connected to the first link 107 by a connection axle 110 at the forward end of the first link 107 is pushed so as to be displaced in the direction indicated by an arrow c, and a tape guide base 113, which is supported by a support axle 112 at the forward end of the second link 111, is moved in the direction as indicated by an arrow d along a guide rail 114 provided on the main chassis 101. A magnetic tape 104 is drawn out of an opening portion 103a of the cassette 103 by a guide post group 115 on the tape guide base 113. The construction and operation of the links on the other side are substantially the same as those of the above described ones.
Finally, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, substantially half the rotating drum 105 is caused to be inserted into the opening portion 103a of the cassette 103 by the displacement of the slide chassis 102 and, at the same time, the loading of the tape 104 along a predetermined path, including the winding thereof around the peripheral surface of the rotating drum 105, is effected by the displacement of the tape guide base 113. In this condition, the tape 104 is brought into press contact with a capstan 116 by a pinch roller (not shown), and the tape 104 is run to perform a desired recording or reproducing operation by the magnetic head of the rotating drum 105.
In the case, for example, of a cassette for digital VTR or the like, in which the opening portion 103a of the cassette 103 is small, when a reduction in depth dimension is to be achieved by accommodating the rotating drum 105 in the opening portion 103a, the tape guide base at the time of unloading is situated near the center of the opening portion 103a as indicated by a broken line 113' in FIG. 10.
This indicates the fact that, in the case of the tape loading mechanism as described above, which uses the first link 107 and the second link 111, the tape guide base 113' approaches the link axle 106, which is the center of rotation of the first link 107, the requisite movement of the base 113' at the time of loading start being in the direction from the vicinity of the link axle 106 to the exterior as indicated by an arrow e.
Thus, even if the first link 107 is rotated in the direction of the arrow b as described above, the second link 111', which is at a position indicated by the broken line, cannot be displaced, so that the operation of moving the base 113' is impossible.